In 2010, shellfish growers in Baynes Sound, a key location for B.C.’s robust shellfish aquaculture industry, faced limited capacity for growth due to infrastructure constraints. To address this issue, Island Coastal Economic Trust invested $515,000 through its Capital and Innovation Program towards a new $1.8 million wharf at Fanny Bay. This enabled increased access to offload product, reduced waiting times, and increased worker safety, resulting in increased shellfish offloading capacity and greatly improved productivity for the industry and region.
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On a busy summer morning in Fanny Bay, the harbour comes alive early.
Trucks rumble in and out. Boats head out to shellfish farms scattered across Baynes Sound, a picturesque channel of water located in the Comox Valley between Vancouver Island and Denman Island. Throughout the day, harvests of oysters and clams are unloaded to be prepared for shipment to markets across British Columbia, North America, and beyond. Farmers swap stories and compare notes. It is a place of business, but also a gathering place where shellfish growers build relationships and livelihoods.
For many, it’s just another day at the dock. But for the shellfish industry that has shaped this coastline for generations, it is one of the most important places in the province.
The dock itself isn’t particularly large. Compared to many commercial harbours, it’s modest. Yet its significance extends far beyond its footprint.
“People head for this dock every day to go out to work on the water,” said Bruce Evans, director with the Fanny Bay Harbour Authority.
“Every boat represents a family or a farm,” added Steve Barteaux, Harbour Manager.
For millennia, Baynes Sound has been an epicentre of shellfish production and harvesting, with Indigenous peoples utilizing its rich waters to create and manage sustainable clam gardens since time immemorial.
Today, the area produces roughly 60 to 65 per cent of British Columbia’s shellfish harvest. Oysters, clams, mussels, and other products raised in these waters support hundreds of jobs and generate approximately $180 million in economic activity annually.
Approximately 40 to 45 per cent of the total provincial value of shellfish makes its way across just two docks: Deep Bay and Fanny Bay, with Fanny Bay slightly edging out Deep Bay.
“The demand and the usefulness of the dock is tremendous,” said Nico Prins, Executive Director of the BC Shellfish Growers Association. “It’s one of the smaller marinas compared to others, but by catering solely to the commercial industry, it’s hugely significant.”
An Economic Engine on the Coast
The numbers help tell the story. Each year, about $5 million wholesale value worth of oysters and $8 million worth of clams move through the harbour. That value is multiplied significantly when converted to market prices. In addition, K’ómoks First Nation hauls around $2 million worth of shellfish across the dock per year.
The dock currently moors around 30 vessels, with usually a minimum of three people working per vessel. On top of that, you have the staff back at the processing facilities, where product is delivered after unloading at the dock.
Harvests are trucked across Vancouver Island and over to the Lower Mainland. Some continue on to markets throughout North America and Asia.
Before 2012, shellfish farmers in Fanny Bay relied on an aging wooden wharf next door. Loading product was slow, difficult, and often hazardous. Equipment and harvests had to be hoisted over the structure using booms and winches. At low tide, workers faced an even greater challenge as the distance to the water increased dramatically.
“That was the biggest change,” Barteaux said. “Going from a wooden wharf to the new dock completely changed the whole operation.”
“The fact that they can now drive a truck down to go and offload in is hugely helpful,” said Prins. “Anywhere that there’s commercial activity in the water, a good access point is essential.”
The dock functions as both workplace and gathering place. Farmers share equipment, exchange information, and navigate the inevitable disagreements that arise in any close-knit industry. Over time, it has become a community as much as a piece of infrastructure.
For many small coastal communities, shellfish aquaculture remains one of the few industries where people can build long-term careers tied directly to the ocean.
“In the communities that the industry contributes jobs to, there aren’t a lot of other opportunities,” said Prins.
That reality becomes visible every morning when workers leave the dock for farms across the Sound, including major players in the industry such as Fanny Bay Oysters and Mac’s Oysters.
Some crews are employed by larger companies. Others work for family-run operations that have spent decades growing shellfish in these waters. Together they’re part of an industry that includes roughly 260 operators across British Columbia, many of them owner-operated businesses, employing around 490 full-time equivalent employees.
From Wooden Wharf to Modern Dock
Construction of the modern facility began after Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s Small Craft Harbours Program instigated an opportunity to improve commercial access and provided the engineering and design aspects of the project. Additional funding was secured through Western Economic Diversification Canada and Community Futures B.C., along with just over $500,000 from Island Coastal Economic Trust, allowing the Harbour Authority to move forward.
Evans managed the project and construction lasted from September 2011 through March 2012.
The result transformed how shellfish farmers work.
“It’s way safer and way faster,” Evans said.
“It’s nice to have what you’re moving around not over your head,” Barteaux added.
The improvements were so successful that additional floating infrastructure has since been added to increase capacity, and Evans said there are aspirations to continue to expand the facility.
For Dr. Timothy Green, Director of Vancouver Island University’s Centre for Shellfish Research, the dock represents something fundamental.
“The industry would largely come to a standstill without a dock,” he said. “You need a dock to load shellfish on and off, and you need it in reliable, sheltered water where farmers can come and go.”
Growth, Challenges, and Opportunity Ahead
Just up the coast at VIU’s Deep Bay Marine Field Station, Green and his team are focused on ensuring there will be an industry for future generations to access.
Backed in part by a $1 million Island Coastal Economic Trust investment in 2012, the over $10 million facility was created to help advance the research and innovation needed for the industry’s long-term success.
At the Station, Green’s research tackles some of the biggest challenges facing shellfish farmers, from disease and climate change to improving the resilience and quality of farmed oysters.
“There’s a lot of shellfish we can produce here,” Green said. “We’re really blessed in British Columbia with fantastic growing waters. Baynes Sound is a great environment for growing shellfish.”
The work is increasingly important as global demand for shellfish continues to grow.
“Especially for BC product, global demand is great,” said Prins. “We’ve got a very big advantage over the rest of Canada because we’re closer to Pacific Rim countries and Southeast Asian markets. We’ve got a reputation for having high-quality premium products. If we can bridge some issues around volume and consistency of supply, there’s huge demand potential.”
The industry’s future, however, is not without challenges.
Farmers have spent years dealing with summer mortality events, disease concerns, changing markets, inflation, and trade uncertainty. More recently, licensing delays and regulatory backlogs have emerged as major barriers to growth.
“It discourages new people getting into it and discourages innovation,” Prins said.
“I think the industry has a bright future, but we’re going through a challenging time,” Green said.
Currently, BC farmers are growing less than one oyster per square meter, when production level could easily reach 50-100 oysters per square meter, conservatively. Even just increasing to 13 per square meter would result in a billion-dollar industry.
“We don’t even have to get more growing area, we can just optimize what we’ve got,” said Prins. “If we can fix a couple of things, which is in the works, we’re definitely on a very strong growth projection for the industry.”
Research partnerships are helping farmers improve productivity. Water quality improvements have helped address concerns around norovirus. Industry organizations continue to work with government and researchers to address challenges ranging from climate adaptation to labour shortages.
Future-Proofing the Canadian Shellfish Industry
At the Deep Bay facility, Green and his students are working towards future-proofing the Canadian shellfish industry. They do so by studying how shellfish can adapt to climate change and disease, and through a selective breeding program are growing more resilient shellfish that are already hitting the market.
Their breeding efforts have developed oysters dialed in for the commercial market, specifically designed to have meat that is consistently plump, firm, and tasty, in a shell ideally deep, sized, coloured, and easy to open. The oysters are helping B.C. producers be more competitive, consistent, and resilient in the face of both market and environmental challenges.
Green believes one of the greatest potentials of shellfish farming lies in its role as a sustainable food source for a growing world.
As populations increase and pressure mounts to reduce the environmental footprint of food production, shellfish are attracting attention as one of the most sustainable sources of animal protein available.
Unlike livestock, shellfish require no feed, no freshwater, and no fertilizer. Instead, oysters and other shellfish naturally filter nutrients from the surrounding water as they grow.
“They just naturally feed on the phytoplankton that occur in the waterway,” said Dr. Green. “So, they draw out nitrogen and phosphorus and by actually filtering the water, they do a lot of ecological services for us.”
The result is a food production system that not only has a relatively small environmental footprint but can actively contribute to healthier marine ecosystems.
“Generally, a well-managed shellfish farm has many benefits to the marine environment, which is very rare for any sort of agri-food operation,” Green said.
More Than a Dock: Building a New Sector
Whatever challenges or opportunities face the industry and the producers, back at the dock work carries on as usual.
Harvests come ashore. Trucks depart, carrying oysters and clams to markets far afield. Workers head home. They come back the next day. The cycle repeats itself season after season.
As you drive by on 19A, it looks just like any other busy commercial dock.
In reality, it has quietly become one of the most important pieces of economic infrastructure on the coast and a potential vision of the future; a place where science, food production, global trade, and community all meet at the edge of the water.
Without it, much of Baynes Sound’s shellfish industry would struggle to function.
With it, an industry continues to grow from the waters just offshore.
Impact Summary:
Economic
- The project resulted in $1.8 million in new investment to Fanny Bay from diverse sources including funding partnerships between federal government agencies and Island Coastal Economic Trust
- Since expansion of the harbour, approximately $15 million worth of shellfish annually, wholesale value, is unloaded from B.C. shellfish growers’ farm sites
- As a whole, B.C.’s shellfish industry produces around $180 million in economic activity per year, with around 60-65% of that total occurring in Bayne Sound
Social
- The new infrastructure led to the expansion of businesses, which in turn led to new job creation for the region
Climate
- Shellfish harvesting provides a sustainable, protein-rich food source
- Shellfish actively clean and improve marine environments
Trust Investments:
- 2012 – $515,000 – Fanny Bay Harbour Loading Ramps
- 2012 – $1,000,000 – Deep Bay Marine Field Station
Key Partnerships:
- Fanny Bay Harbour Authority
- Vancouver Island University’s Centre for Shellfish Research
- BC Shellfish Growers Association
- K’ómoks First Nation
- DFO Small Craft Harbours
- Western Economic Diversification Canada
- Fanny Bay Oysters
- Mac’s Oysters
Online Resources:
- 2021 Trust Profile of Bruce Evans
- Fanny Bay Harbour Authority
- Vancouver Island University’s Centre for Shellfish Research
- BC Shellfish Growers Association
Contacts:
Kyle Wells
Manager, Communications and Impact
Island Coastal Economic Trust
kyle@islandcoastaltrust.ca
250-871-7797
Bruce Evans
Director
Fanny Bay Harbour Authority
bdevans@telus.net
250-465-1326
